The Boeing 707 is a classic airplane that helped usher in the modern age of jet aviation travel like few others. It’s design and legacy live on or have been influenced by this design in one way or another. Its that Local Legend that Microsoft set out to represent back in 2024 when they released the 737-320C as Famous Flyer 10. The only problem? The work done for it wasn’t up to par. But now things have changed.

Made good, made right

You have to appreciate developers and publishers that aim to make something right and here I have to credit the Microsoft Flight Simulator team for investing some funds to make a prior release that didn’t go so well into an excellent release. That’s what happened here with Famous Flyer 10.

The first go-around for the 707-320C happened two years ago. Released in 2024 to much celebration which was then dashed almost immediately as it became clear that the release was not up to expectations and was lacking in visuals, sounds, and systems. The model had many obvious visual problems both inside and out, the sounds seemed wrong, and the systems were obviously very simplistic. Now, a simplified experience can still be a good one (BlueMesh’s Latécoère 636 flying boat is a great example of a museum piece that is fun to experience without intense system depth), but this 707 just didn’t fit that mould either.

Now we’ve seen this aircraft have something of a rebirth. The Boeing 707-320C, the passenger/cargo combi variant of the airplane, has been redone. The efforts combined work done by the iniBuilds team as well as efforts from Working Title to turn this project around.

I’m uncertain if it was a complete rebuild or if the model was tidied up but it certainly looks better than it did before. There are maybe one or two rough edges still but it still looks a whole lot better than before.

It also now has a UNS-1 FMS, a CIVA INS, or a GNS 530 as options for flight planning and management. This time around the sounds and visuals have been significantly updated. A new virtual flight engineer helps you prepare the airplane for flight. These are big new features for the aircraft that, together with a bunch of other system work (electrical, hydraulic, etc.) make the 707 into an aircraft that has some character, some depth, some interest when flying it.

They didn’t set out to make a high fidelity experience so this won’t compare to iniBuilds efforts on their Lockheed TriStar or A300-600R(F), two other classic airliners in their own collection, but they certainly have made the 707 into something that is a very good experience in its own right.

From problem child to one of MSFS 2024’s best Famous Flyers is the trajectory that this Boeing 707-320C has been one. What an incredible transformation.

I took it out for a flight

The other night I decided I’d take the 707-320C out for a flight using one of the new TWA liveries included in the release and going on a TWA route between Boston and Philadelphia.

For the flight, I made use of the flight engineer AI assistant which helps guide you through the setup of the aircraft. Its both a helper but also an immersion piece as the system does what the engineer is supposed to do leaving you, the pilot, to do the piloting stuff. Its really quite an intuitive system overall.

Ground services are all linked fully with the Microsoft defaults so you can use all of those including baggage and pushback with no problem. Taxiing works great (that old nosewheel bug is long gone now) and again I was leaning on the flight engineer to keep things working nicely.

Takeoff comes somewhat leisurely as does climbout but the 707 can certainly pull it off with no real concerns. Gear up, flaps up, and up to our cruise altitude.

There’s a helper in place where the engineer will flick the altitude hold button on the autopilot automatically when you reach the planned altitude. You can turn that on and off as desired but if you do want that more automated experience, you can certainly have it!

Cruise went smoothly though descent was a bit of a challenge as there’s no VNAV or advisory VNAV here. Old school calculations and a bit of eyeballing things is how you get that all done.

I did get the ILS glideslope active and was able to bring the 707 for a reasonably smooth landing for my first time out.

The aircraft is somewhat ponderous in its handling relative to some more modern types or some of the smaller classics I’m used to flying. But that kind of adds to the charm too! Boeing test pilot Tex Johnson did perform a 1.0G barrel roll in one of these after all!

All in all, its a great experience now. For the money, its a lot of airplane and a lot of features crammed in there with actual systems depth and a cleaned up appearance. It’s fun to fly now!